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The Budget Red Book on Planning

Little in the speech yesterday on planning, other than the incorrect assertion that the NPPF is increasing housebuilding, errr comnpletions are falling Gideon. Hence the shift from good old fashioned neoliberal supply side measures, weakening planning, to good old fashioned interventionist measures, subsidising the wealthy to buy homes. They tried it in Australia and it did work to a degree as they havnt experienced a recession ‘yet’, why not because it prolonged a deeply unsustainable housing boom and stoking up the potential for the greatest crash of all .

Planning
2.241 Judicial review – The Ministry of Justice has consulted on shortening the time limits for bringing a planning judicial review and will set out its plans in spring 2013. The Government will also develop further measures to streamline the process for planning judicial reviews by summer 2013.

2.242 Planning use class – The Government will consult on further flexibilities between use classes to support change of use from certain agricultural and retail uses to residential use to increase responsiveness within the planning system.

2.243 Planning guidance – The Government will publish significantly reduced planning guidance by this summer, in line with Lord Matthew Taylor’s recommendations. This will strengthen the focus on using market signals to ensure land is allocated to support development.

2.244 Land auctions feasibility study – DCLG is progressing the public sector land auctions model and will work with HM Treasury to conduct a feasibility study into wider use of the model.

The local growth fund deserves a separate post. On the very day two regional plans are abolished sub-regional planning returns with a vengeance. Even Gideon has discovered he cant do without it.

As for the reference on price signals? The new SHMA guidance? What about in areas where the price elasticity of supply of housing in low?

The Grasslands Trust team blog about nature conservation and broader environmental issues, always with a focus on our threatened grassland habitats. The views in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the Trust.